The invention is generally related to use of compounds having pharmaceutical properties, and in particular, to compounds useful for eliciting analgesic effects.
Pain has been defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or described in terms of, actual or potential tissue damage. See, Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary, p. 545, Prentice Hall, New York, N.Y. (1987). To reduce and/or prevent pain, administration of analgesic compounds to a pain sufferer is desirable to elicit analgesic effects, viz., to produce analgesia and/or reduce response to painful stimuli. Analgesia is a condition in which nociceptive stimuli are perceived but are not interpreted as pain, which usually (but not necessarily always) is accompanied by sedation without loss of consciousness. An analgesic compound is referred to as being an analgetic to the extent it produces analgesia, i.e., altered pain perception. On the other hand, an analgesic is referred to as being an antalgic to the extent it produces a reduced response to painful stimuli. See, Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary (supra), p. 33.
Conventional analgesics have varying degrees of adverse side effects. That is, there is a general unsatisfied need in the prior art of pain relief and reduction for an analgesic agent that is effective while posing less risk of adverse side effects and other pernicious effects to the host. More specifically, it would be highly desirable to provide a pharmaceutical composition incorporating a compound which interacts with nicotinic receptors which has the potential to affect the pain perception and response, but which does not significantly affect those receptors which have the potential to induce side effects (e.g., motor impairment, significant increases in blood pressure or heart rate).